With more and more viewers turning off traditional TV and turning on online ad blockers, how else will brands get their names and products in front of us?

From the gratuitous and obvious (Volkswagen Jetta in Horrible Bosses, Microsoft Surface in almost every American TV show in 2013) to the clever (telco Verizon in 30 Rock), marketers have been trying to catch our attention when we’re actually paying attention, instead of running to the loo.

But not all product placements are paid-for endorsements and if you use a brand’s logo or products, generally, you’ll need permission. Which is why you often see characters drinking generic “Cola” cans.

If you’re one of the many Australians who rushed out to see Deadpool over the weekend, you’ll remember the scenes (no real spoilers follow) with the antihero’s blind roommate unsuccessfully trying to build a set of Ikea drawers. And then the witty banter over which Ikea product was superior — the humour largely reliant on Ikea’s funny-sounding (at least funny-sounding to non-Swedish speakers) product names.

Considering that it was pretty much a rant about Ikea’s torturous assembling process, it didn’t seem likely that the Swedish furniture giant paid for the reference. It didn’t.

But it did give permission, the film’s co-writer Rhett Reese told Digital Spy. “The one thing we weren’t allowed to do is make names up. We had to use real Ikea furniture.”

His writing partner, Paul Wernick, explained why the Ikea tirade was important to the story: “The fact that Deadpool has been turned into this monster and now he’s going on a rant about Ikea — it just says everything about his character at that exact moment.”

It’s hardly the first time Ikea’s been mocked in a movie or TV show.

Sometimes it’s endorsed, including those scenes in (500) Days of Summer that uses the megastore to contrast the happier and then less-than-happy progress of Summer and Tom’s relationship.

But when it’s not, writers and directors find ways around it. For example, the famous scene in Fight Club which recreates an Ikea catalogue in the unnamed narrator/Tyler Durden’s apartment as commentary on our consumer-obsessed society. But in this scenario, it’s not Ikea but Furni.

And then there’s the 30 Rock Valentine’s Day episode which follows Liz and Criss as they test themselves in the most trying place for a couple: Ikea. In the episode, Ikea is set up as the place where relationships go to die.

Outside, they’re confronted by an older couple who’s just escaped the labyrinthine cesspool, spitting insults at each other.

Liz and Criss are even dogged by a creepy Ikea employee who’s blessed with cracker dialogue like this: “Silence prisoner! I mean, can I help you valued customer.”

Of course Ikea wouldn’t have been on-board with Liz crying: “We are not doing this! We are not letting this table be a metaphor for our relationship. It’s what Ikea wants us to do!”.

Which can still be a better brand endorsement than some paid-for placements — like the three cringe-worthy slow-mo frames of a very obvious Microsoft phone in the middle of Fun’s video clip of “We Are Young”.